A place for anyone who loves food – buying, growing, cooking and eating!

Menu

Monthly Archives: December 2017

Deck the halls with boughs of hollyFa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la‘Tis the season to be jollyFa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la Don we now our gay apparel Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la.Troll the ancient Yule-tide carolFa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.

Oh…there you are! You caught me having a dance around Love Food HQ’s kitchen, doing three of my most favourite things: singing, dancing and cooking!!! Makes for a very happy me, I can tell you.

As you’re here, I’ll share with you my super quick, delightfully tasty and surprisingly inexpensive meal which we all like in the Crimbo Limbo time between Christmas and New Year.

The festive season is well and truly here, and as we await the close of this year’s celebrations and welcoming of the new, I’m thinking a wee tasty meal that’s both kind to wallets and waistlines while still being delicious and nutritious. Yes, this can be a challenge at this time of year. Fear not! Our seasonal zeal for all things poultry, in particular, turkey sees no abatement and with this key seasonal ingredient in mind, here’s a quick and simple recipe to take you from conservational evening meal to quick lunch before New Year’s sales shopping – and everything in-between.

Turkey is a low-fat meat and a source of protein. Here I’ve created a healthy homemade burger that’s just right for quick evening meals on the run-up to the Big Night (aka New Year’s Eve). Add various low-fat and nutritious side dishes, lashings of festive-inspired drinks plus a good dollop or two of great company and you have the recipe – excuse the pun – for a perfect occasion.

Put the turkey, breadcrumbs, onion and thyme in a bowl and either by using a wooden spoon or your freshly washed hands, mix all the ingredients together. The mixture will resemble this:

Add a little salt and pepper while continuing to mix all the ingredients together.

When the ingredients have combined to form a large ball, divide into 8 equal portions. Form each portion into a round ball shape and set aside.

On a floured work surface, place a ball and gently press it down to form a flat circle. Ensure the burger is covered with flour and set it aside, ready to cook. Do this to the remaining 7 balls.

Next, either fire up the barbeque and gently cook the burgers on both sides until their meat is cooked thoroughly or place a frying pan on a low heat, pouring a little oil into it. Heat the oil and when the oil is ‘spitting’, it is warm enough to start putting the burgers in.

Cook the burgers on a gentle, low heat and periodically turn them over to ensure they cook through. Cooking them will take about 20-25 minutes and the meat will firm in texture with a caramelised look appearing on both sides of the burgers.

Once cooked, serve with salad, pickles, hummus and dressings. The dressing used here is a dijon mustard low-fat dressing with the recipe here:“How To Make Mustard Dressing”.

Voila!

These look and taste delicious, costing pennies to make! The minced turkey was £2.49 for 450g, the thyme was out of the Love Food HQ garden so free bar lovingly tendered by my own fair hand – it’s about 69p-99p to buy fresh depending upon where you shop and you’d have some left over to use in other dishes. An onion has cost about 10p. Breadcrumbs…a couple of slices of wholemeal bread…a small loaf at 75p…so about 12p. And a splash of oil and seasoning. Under £3.00 for 8 tasty and nutritious burgers. Proving excellent value for money and you know exactly what ingredients have gone into making these tasty beauties.

The origin of food is so important especially as we live in a time of unprecedented GM foods to be found on many supermarkets’ shelves.

I’ll be bringing you more cost-effective meals through my food ‘inventions’ very soon, fellow foodies.